Pele and Platini in firing line as Diego lets rip

ARGENTINA coach Diego Maradona took a swipe at fellow legends Pele and Michel Platini and also criticised the World Cup matchball during another no-holds-barred press conference in South Africa yesterday.

Speaking ahead of today’s Group B encounter between his side and South Korea in Johannesburg, Maradona said Pele should “go back to the museum” and claimed UEFA president Platini thinks he “is better than all the rest”.

Maradona also suggested both former superstars should go and try out the much-maligned adidas Jabulani matchball for themselves to see if it is good or bad.

Pele was quoted as claiming Maradona had only taken on his current post because he needed work and the money prompting the Argentinian’s retort that he should “go back to the museum”.

Maradona also hit back at Platini over reported negative comments by the Frenchman about the 1986 World Cup winner’s coaching ability, saying: “Platini? I’m not surprised, I’ve always had a very distant relationship with him, it’s always just hello and goodbye, nothing more than that.

“We all know how the French are, and Platini is French, and he believes he is better than rest.”

The Jabulani matchball also fell within Maradona’s cross-hairs following a question about the lack of goals in the World Cup so far and whether he thought the opening matches had lacked excitement.

“I’m having a wonderful time to tell the truth, to me a World Cup is something that’s quite amazing. I’m not worried by the fact there aren’t many goals, I’m sure there will be goals, I’m sure the players will see to that,” he said at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld stadium.

“Of course in the first matches you are more careful, perhaps more careful than you should be.

“And of course there’s the ball. I don’t want to go into the ball again because everyone is talking about it, but it is important and it does play a part and I would ask Pele and Platini to go out there and play with the ball and take a closer look at it to see if it’s a good one or bad one, and to stop talking rubbish about me.”

Looking ahead to today’s match against South Korea, Maradona is set to make at least one change to his winning line-up with veteran midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron being rested as a precaution.

The 35-year-old Veron played 74 minutes of Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Nigeria in their opening match, but he has been struggling with a knock and Maxi Rodriguez looks set to deputise.

Maradona did not discount the possibility of making further changes to his line-up either, .

When asked if Diego Milito, who played a starring role as Inter Milan won an unprecedented treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League titles in the season just gone, could replace Gonzalo Higuain up front or if the two might play together, Maradona said: “I wouldn’t rule that out, I could put them both in.”

South Korea’s star man Park Ji-sung, has warned his team that his former Manchester United teammate Carlo Tevez is in top form, but he has still backed his country to produce a shock result at Soccer City.

He said: “We have differences in our playing abilities but there is always the possibility for a weaker team to beat a stronger team. ”